Manufacture of electrodes.



A.;R. SQQTT. MANUFACTURE or ELECTRODES.

APPLICATION FILED N'OV; I7. I9I5. I

' Patented May15,'1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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V a t gwfucuto c $511 elfloznctasv I A.-P. soon, MANUFACTURE or ELECTRODES. APPLICATION FILED Nova 11. 1915. Patented Mayl -2 sncns sn WUHT" I UNITED STATES PATENT "OFFICE.

ARTHUR r scour-.01 cnrcaeo, rumors, Assmnon, 'ro CHILE EXPLORATION couran; on new YORK, 11. Y., A. conrona'rron or NEW JERSEY.

uauuraoruan or nnacrnonns.

--L- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 15; 1917.

Application filed November 17, 1915 SerialNo. 61,904,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, ARTHUR P. Soo'r'r, a

subject, of the" King of Great Britain, residing at Chicago, county of Cook, and State ofIllinois. have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Manufacture of Electrodes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, aiidexact de scrlption of the invention, such as. will en able others skilled, in the art to which it 'a'ppertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to the manufacture of magnetite electrodes, and particularly of hollow magnetite anodes, by a casting operatiOll. I In practising the invention, the molten magnetite, from which the electrodesare to be cast, is" first produced ina suitable type of electric furnace,*such as a single phase 2 alternating current. furnace of the direct arc type. provided with a Tinto cinder) by melting the same and allowing the molten magnetite to set. The ore itself is a non-conductor but becomes a good conductor when molten. By lowering the upper graphite electrode" into contact with the bottomto make thearc, and then graduall' "raising the electrode, the fresh ore can efmelted .and rendered ufficiently clear and fluid. v V 5 The' magneti-te bottom serves to protect f the furnace lining from the direct heat of the arc, and furtherservesjas a protective "layer for'the steel bottomcontact, preventwhen added to the bath, is but slowly a SOl'bBd, the raw ore' oing into solution much more readily. here raw ore 1s addedT o'm time t'o"'t ime,' the scrap settles to'the'bottom of the bath and remains praca tically"unattackedgfOverheating and penetration of the bottom is thus avoided. V

The furnace itself is constructed of material; not attacked by the magnetite.

i5ing,and with a slice brick roof. There is molten ma gnetite,

.The bottom of the furnace is protective conducting llayer of the magnetite. Such a protective layer, above the bottom steel electrode, is prepared 25 from the ore (purple ore or leached Rio It may thus be'pi-ovided with a magnesite lin-- a tendency the ore when the latter is accidentally brought incontact 'With it,'but this can readily befrgavoided. The magnesite lining, being itself of a basic by the magnetite.

In melting the ore and forming the using such a furnace as that above described having a magnetite bottom, the. graphite electrode is first low- ,ered into contact with themag-netite bottom and a suitable char e of ore (e. g. purple ore or leached Rio into cinder) is thrown in around the electrode, which is radually raised as fast as the ore near't e are is melted and becomes conducting. At the nature, is not attacked of the roof material to sla'g with same time, the outlying portions of the charge around the eriphery of-the hearth are gradually poled down into the zone of fusion. 1

When a clear fluid bath of suflicient quantity has accumulated, a still further small portion of ore is thrown on the surface and as soon-as this has been absorbed the bath is ready to pour. This final addition serves both as a temperature checlr and-to limit the formation of an excess of ferrous oxicl. The whole meltingoperation, as described,

requires about one to one. and a half hours.

The molten magnetite, when ready forjpouring, at a temperature of about 1590 C. For castlng the hollowelectrodes it has been found advantageous to use a cast gray iron mold, split diagonally along its major axis. ,By careful foundry .work the interior surface can be made sufliciently smooth to" a; suitable. conveyer such. as an overhead eliminate all machine work except at the I joint planes. This natural surface presents trolley and chain-block having asIIPPOrti'ng v yoke" in which .the trunnions are mounted.

1 A pouring funnel or top, forming an ex I tension of. the molcl, arranged thereon,

v .1 ftha't will be removed when: the mold-is inverted, for purposes which will presently appear.

and is corinected to the supporting yoke so in details of construction, without departing from the spirit and scope of the inven- In the accompanying drawings, I Figure 1 shows the mold in perspective,

and ma horizontal position, supported by the yoke, parts of which have been broken away; v

Figs. 2 and 3 are respectively bottom and top viewsof the. mold;

Figs: 41 and 5 show the parts of the mold separated;

, Fig. 6 is a sectional View of the able top or. extension; and v QF-ig. shows the moldin an upright position, -supported in the .yoke, and with the top extension thereon.

- j Thelmold, as shown, is made up oft-he two partslili and. 2, held together by p voted bolts- KandkeysA. The. mold is supported :.by'

.trunnions 5 in a yoke madenp of an upper I p r p [was found difficult to obtain an anode wlth .a perfect neck. "In the one minute interval frame member 7 a'ndhook members 6. The

- detachable top isiindicated at 8. Such a that-this temperature be carefully a'pproxim l DWI this temperature, the chill ing'efi'ect upon the electrode is. gre'at, and the' ele.otrode isw-liabletQc-rackduring annealing;

M Above; this. .t;'emperatu1e, the; anode, has "a" ,strong .tenderioyjo adhere to theinold, with;

resultingdangeffifgrupture in strip'pmg andf Z zfallu reduri nganneallng. Ithas been found,

mold forms-the subjectrmatter of my ,copending applicatiomSerial.No. A, filed February 1 1916. T

. Before casting, the: mold must be li eated to approximately 350? C. It is important .however;,,itha ty it is safer practice to run the ;-mo1d;on-,the hot side .and, run the- I'ISkJQf o e a e sticki g:-

' To. reduce any. tendency to stick at tem T peratures slightly above the normal, the

' mold may he -givena coating of lime with an air b ush immediately after each casting A and before the moldis returned to the heat"- '55 ing. furnaceto be; again heated. Bone ash,

andothelr, suitable materialg can be u'sedin 2a similar manner,

, s. -ln';ca rrying out the casting operatiom'the molten magnetite, at the appropriate t-e1n'' ,perature- (about Q1590: G is {poured di- -rectly into thepreheated mold. "soon as .the mold, isfilletl, it is 'allo \\'c d to stand 1111- -dist.urbed for-Tone minute, at the end-of ;.wh-i' ch period it 1s q1 11ckl;\' i'nvcrtcdto dis detach- 0 during annealing.

' "effect an extension of the mold.

a shell of solid magnetite of the desired I thickness;(approximately; i inch thick) on the innersurface of the; mold.

The mold is then quickly laid in a horizontal position on a stripping table. The keys are knocked out and the upper half of the mold lifted off. An iron spatula (in the form of an elongated loop) previously heated to redness, is then thrust into the anode, which is lifted from the lower half perimposed shelves about 20 inches apart, each of which is Covered with a bedof the material 12 to Mine-hes deep. This material should be thoroughly dried and preferably preheated to about 100 C.

The stripped anode 'is laid on the shelf and buried in the'material.

r The cooling and annealing of the anodes take place slo'wly, unde1"these conditions, the

anodes remaining undisturbed for a suflicientperiod of time to permit cooling to a Safe temperature for remoral and handling. This period is, in practice, about four days.

In casting the anodes in an open mold it .without cutting off the entire neck.

If, during the one "minute period, the neck is keptop'en.by'agitation of- -the iuolten interior with a bar, the anode wall is rapidly chilled at this point. Heai'y strails are thus set up, often "causing'the anodes to fail This difliculty, however has been oyercome bythe uselof a hottop orflmnel, of

suitable form. This to'p rests upon "the top of the moldduringpouringsand forms in I As indicated inFigJ'i' it is connected by a chain to the top of the yoke insarhich the mold 1-0 tates, so that when the mold is inverted the hot top {isremoved automatically with a ite electrodes, whichpcomprises' pouring the molten magnetite into inolds heatedto about 350? (1., allowing the mold to stand undis tin-bed until a s of forming hollow magnet-'- 09Cfinto molds heated to about 350 0,, allowing the Jmoldto stand undisturbed for aboutonc minute, pouring the still molten.

' magnetite from the mold, stripping the hollow magnetiteFeleptrode from the mold a teniperature of about-1100 to 1206 (Land slowly annez'ilimg the resulting electrode;

substantially as described, I 3. "lhe,method of formmg hollow mag-- netite electrodes, u' hieheomprises PO L'lIlIlg;

the molten magnetite ,at a temperature of about 1590" G. into molds heated to-about 3509 0., allowing the mold to stand undistu'rl.)ed for about one minute, pouring the still molten magnetite fromlthe mold, strip-' ping the hollow magnetite .elec'trode from the mold. at a temperature of about 1100 1 to, 1200? (l; andslowly annealing the resulting electrodeby burying the same in a pulyerulent non-ci'mducting material for, a suiiicient period "of time to' permit the desired cooling to take place {substantially as described.

i. The method of casting hollow magnetiteelectrodes; which comprises pouring the moltenmagnetite into a heated mold providedwith aheated re 'no'vable top forming an extension thereof, allowing the mold to stand 'i'lndisturbed until a shell of solid mag netite has been formed in the mold -and re-' movable top, and sl lbsequently removing said top and the shell formed therein and pouring thestillmolten magnetite from the mold{substantially as described; 5. The method of castingfhollow magnetite electrodes, which comprises pouring-the [molten magnetite into a heated mold prm vided with a heated removable top forming an extension thereo'f allowing the mold to ell of solid magnetite has" been formed and pouring the still molten magnetite from the "mold; described; The method V ite electrodes, which comprises pouring the molten magnetite at a temperature of about 10.

substantially as G. into molds preheated to about 350 stand undisturbed until a shell ofsolid' magnetite hasbeen formedgin the moldand removable top,.i'nver ting said mold and our;

ing the still molten ma'gn'etite there rom,

and automatically. removing said top with a mold; substantially as described. 1

6. The method of casting magnetite electrodes, which comprises pouring the molten magnetite into; molds preheated to about 350 6., whereby a :shell of solid magnetite is formed within the mold while the interior of thebody of magnetite'remains molten substantially as described. Y a

7. The method of casting magnetite elem trodes,"which comprises pouring the molten (1., stripping the magnetite while" still at a high temperature, and slowly annealing the resultin electrode by burying the same in a. pulverulent hon-conduct1ngmaterial for a suflicient period of time to permit the desired.

cooling to the take place; substantiallyas described.

'9.'Tl 1'e method of oasting magnetite electrodes, which comprisespouring themolten magnetite into a heated molclpro'vided with a heated removabletop forming an extension thereof, allowing the mold. to stand until a shell. of solid magnetite has been formed in the mold and removableitop, andsubsequently removing said top and the shell 1 formed therein wit a shearing action, whereby the shell remaining in the mold is provided with a top of "uniform thickness; substantially. as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

" ARTHUR P. sooTT shearing effect during the inversion of said 

